VicMan

On 9/1/2018 at 9:29 PM, SG0403327 said:

Just curious.  My husband's mother Cherie Jacqueline Turner attended Lanier Junior High School in Spring 1946 - Spring 1949.  I wonder if anyone that attended during those years might remember her.  She was my husband's mother and she died in 1966.  I have been researching her childhood to make memories for my husband and his sisters, but am having a hard time finding anything about her high school years.  I do know she did not graduate, because she got married in April of 1950, her senior year.  It would be fun to find someone that knew her that could maybe tell a story about her.  Anyone?  

The best bet is to go to the school and ask to see old yearbooks, then checking who attended at the same time, and using zabasearch or people searches to find them. People who were aged 12 in 1946 were born around 1934, making them around 84 years of age right now.

4 hours ago, htownbro said:

Yes build a 40 plus floor housing high rise with units for singles, couples and families on different floors.  Family units occupy lower floors, singles and couples occupy higher floors.  

That sounds like a cool idea! A bit ambitious since the old Favrot tower was only 13 stories tall. Also if it's in the Pershing attendance zone TMC might have to have a talk with area homeowner associations so the building doesn't infringe too much on the neighborhood.

They could put more 2 and 3 bedroom units in the lower floors and more 1 bedroom units on upper floors. I heard from a poster on city-data that the old Favrot had a higher proportion of nursing students from Texas Woman's University and Baylor College of medicine compared to employees. Under your arrangement the lower floors could be a mix of families and unrelated nursing students who have roommates.

Previously the Texas Medical Center had the Favrot Apartments, http://web.archive.org/web/20100624063945/http://www.texmedctr.tmc.edu/root/en/TMCServices/Housing/Parking+at+Favrot.htm but they closed in 2012 http://web.archive.org/web/20120729225051/http://texasmedicalcenter.org/housing/ and were demo'ed in 2014. https://www.emporis.com/buildings/203699/laurence-h-favrot-tower-apartments-houston-tx-usa

I understand that the TMC probably wants/wanted a building of higher utility at 6540 Bellows. Also, I never lived there nor knew anybody who did, so I don't know what the housing quality/atmosphere was like. However I like the idea of the TMC building a new tower for employee housing. Perhaps some people want to be very close to work, or have the institution take care of their housing. Therefore I wonder if the TMC could build a new housing tower.

A few things:

• If possible have it be placed in the Pershing Middle School zone - Favrot was zoned to Cullen Middle, which wasn't attractive. Yes, people building institutional housing need to take school zoning into account. Florida State University's report on its former graduate school housing compound, Alumni Village, described the statuses of the schools that served that complex. http://its.fsu.edu/sites/g/files/imported/storage/original/application/a336fded2ae81ac62d958743b870d2c7.pdf (see PDF pages 154 and 155)
• Having a playground and/or a rooftop/similar swimming pool would make it more attractive to families.
• I wonder how the complex could attract singles and childless couples; I wouldn't suggest going whole Michael Pollack Colonial Park Apartments style, but taking cues from swanky Midtown/Montrose complexes could help.
• Since the Medical Center Kroger was demo'ed, it would be good to have ground floor and/or second floor space for a new supermarket and/or an attached parking garage with guest spaces. That way things would be super-convenient for tenants.

As they say, River Oaks Boulevard has two country clubs, and St. John's in fact isn't country club #2

In that case they reopened it in 2015! Holy cow! http://aacc-houston.org/new-australian-consulate-general-in-houston/

Now we just need the Netherlands and Switzerland back. Nigeria would be a good one too.

On 2/19/2009 at 4:43 AM, rsb320 said:

The Australian consulate used to be in the Post Oak Towers, but it looks like they're on Feagan now.

It's only an honorary consulate - no actual consul general. I think the original consulate general closed in the 1990s.

15 hours ago, JLWM8609 said:

They usually prefer private schools and magnet schools.

It reminds me of "Dilemma of the Black Middle Class," an Op-Ed from Sheryl Cashin about one of the problems with many African-American wealthier areas: their schools aren't as good as comparable areas in white communities: https://web.archive.org/web/20080307065330/http://www.americancity.org/article.php?id_article=135 - Her thesis is that an overall "external prejudice against black neighborhoods" means black middle and upper class neighborhoods are at a disadvantage, and on the school front one of the issues was that the schools serving black middle and upper class communities larger numbers of poor children (something that Lockhart has). The other aspects that such black neighborhoods often faced were higher crime rates and a lack of high-end retail.

It would be great to see Lockhart Elementary become a neighborhood and/or magnet school on par with Roberts, River Oaks, Twain, Horn, etc. but it may be an uphill battle. I would also like to see the likes of Ruggles and Local Foods to set up shop near Riverside Terrace.

And here is the attendance map: http://www.kleinisd.net/users/0063/docs/Zoning/Approved HS Zones.pdf

As a result of the shuffling a sliver of area was rezoned from Klein Forest to Klein High. I wonder if their property values will go up?

I wonder if there will be an impetus to improve Lockhart Elementary as Riverside Terrace gentrifies.

http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Lockhart_ES.pdf is the attendance boundary.

https://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/2364002521/school.aspx states that free and reduced lunch students make up 70% of the enrollment. Its academic performance seems to have declined dramatically from 2009 to 2016; its student body merged with that of Turner Elementary in 2011. I wonder where the wealthier black parents prefer to send their children.

Based on the article map, the residential tower will be zoned to Wilson Elementary (not River Oaks Elementary) http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Wilson_K8.pdf - of course Lanier and Lamar would be the zoned middle and high schools.

31 minutes ago, Fringe said:

I don't think Bellaire residents would go for a mini-mall. They rejected that in the 80's where the Episcopal school sits. Residential would be nice although not sure anyone could afford to develop it. No matter what they do the city is going to loose big on taxes.  Especially if HISD grabs it. The last thing they need is another non-taxable entity in a city that is already full of churches and schools. 

If they simply move BHS so it gets a taller (but not larger per se) property, maybe Bellaire city officials will be more amenable? The old school can be full of townhouses, the school itself would just occupy the big Chevron building and maybe have an additional gym on site, and the commercial uses can be built on the leftover land from the Chevron tract. That may make Bellaire happy unless they think they could grab another corporate client.

51 minutes ago, CA77401 said:

There's no great mystery about the city of Bellaire's intent toward the Chevron property. The Planning & Zoning Commission held a public hearing about it Tuesday. You can see the agenda, agenda packet and watch the video here: http://bellairecitytx.iqm2.com/Citizens/SplitView.aspx?Mode=Video&MeetingID=1634&Format=Agenda

 

As for HISD, Mike Lunceford withdrew his support for having the district move forward with pursuing the Chevron property to rebuild Bellaire HS when it was clear that he had no support on the board. If you follow the board at all you would know that they are not going to pour more money into the Bellaire HS project.  There are two new board members as of this week, but they replace two who would have been supportive of the Chevron purchase, so their support really wouldn't make a difference in reopening the discussion.

It sounds like Bellaire wants to divide the property between some high density residential and some commercial.

I haven't yet read the minutes of HISD meetings related to Bellaire HS, but I'm trying to think of some ways HISD could get around this:

• Ask for about half of the property (the half with the giant building), leaving the city to develop commercial next to BHS and multifamily on the site of the old BHS
• For the board members who are against the deal, see if there's a quid pro quo that they would like. Things get through that way in politics.
• Also see if there are some close-in-town properties HISD doesn't need anymore that it could sell. For example the old Dodson Elementary property, as Energy Institute is moving from there to Southmore. HSLJ is going up next to it but I don't think HISD has any future uses for Dodson.

It would be cool if they could have a multipurpose building with a grocery store on the first floor and offices and/or staff residences on the others. I think having more multi-use buildings would make things more efficient.

26 minutes ago, Scrubber said:

That would sure make Bellaire's attendance boundary look like a gerrymandered mess. I mean, a bunch of kids zoned to Lee would be a couple blocks from the new school, while that southern part of Meyerland would be about a mile to Westbury vs. 4 miles to the new school. And the kids in the south Med Center area would have the attendance boundary to Lamar separating them from Bellaire.

Bellaire's zone is a bit "deeper" than the Pershing and Condit zones, and there are some complexes zoned to Long Middle that are also zoned to Bellaire high. http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Bellaire_HS.pdf

Having said that it does remind me of how odd Westside High's zone is a bit strange http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Westside_HS.pdf

So as we know Chevron's vacating its Bellaire campus, which was its research lab. A few possibilities:

* 1. New offices/businesses: Bellaire city officials may prefer this as they want the taxes. Could be new corporate offices, a mini-mall, etc?
* 2. New houses: Like Southside Place did with the old Shell building they could replace 'em with townhouses - could help recoup some tax money
* 3. New schools: HISD may be chomping at the bit to rebuild Bellaire High. All this land is now available. Hmmm.... HISD thought about it, but it would make the budget for rebuilding Bellaire higher.

Since I'm not in the Houston area at the moment I don't know what the officials are thinking...

P.S. HISD may be concerned about the high sticker price of the Chevron campus. While I believe they should NOT sell the former Gordon campus, as they should reopen that for West U Elementary relief, they should, if committed to the Chevron site, sell the former BHS campus... AND the old Dodson Elementary. HISD is smart in locating magnet schools in central Houston but I think they could make a killing selling the EaDo campus. That could help fund a new Bellaire High. Mike Lunceford said in October that he would no longer support that idea but maybe he could reconsider. HISD wouldn't have to tear down the old 10 story building: they could renovate it like what was done to North Atlanta High School.

This building is 1405 Post Oak so it would be assigned to: Briargrove, Grady, and Lee/Lamar/Westside. I wonder how many families live in the supertall condominium buildings, or what kinds of bus stops are around them.

That's what I was hinting at before the discussion sidetracked. My question was would the stigma of it previously being a jail prevent students from wanting to stay there

I see, so you were considering turning a current jail facility into UHD housing. They'd also have to move the headquarters of the county sheriff and a TDCJ state jail for men.

Anyway, I was thinking if there was an existing downtown building with space available, UHD would just rent space in that building and turn the area it leased into dormitories and/or family apartments.

I wasn't able to see all of the Chron article, but if the administrative HQ of HPD is moving, what will they do with the building in Downtown which is the HPD HQ? (That would be considered in addition to the courthouse/central police substation site northwest of Downtown)

Also I know UHD is set as a commuter school, but do you think UHD should lease from an existing building and establish dormitory facilities in it for a few students who may live far away (Someone in resident Hockley or Galveston)?

While the Warehouse District/EaDo was recently rezoned from E. O. Smith (Smith was turned into the HISD school for boys) to Jackson, I don't think too many students were added considering the gentrification that has happened there.

As part of the closing of Dodson, much of Midtown is being rezoned from Blackshear Elementary to Gregory Lincoln Elementary: http://www.houstonisd.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=51135&dataid=101587&FileName=031314OA_POST.pdf (see attachment F-2)

Many of the parents interviewed in this story, back when J. Will Jones was closing, didn't like the idea of being zoned to Blackshear http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-12-04/news/backlash-upon-backlash-at-hisd/ - Maybe they will be happier today?

The way it works in the industry is people want to pay the lowest fares.

United IS doing buy on board to Colombia and Ecuador now. This will make Southwest more attractive.

Think about it at United for a non premier.  They paid $25 for bags,  Then $7 for a hamburger, They paid $25 to check in at the Premier line, then watched Direct TV for $6.  That is  one way and duty free.  Southwest will loose money without any amenities.  Customer in Latin America want fist class.  We will see how it works.  AirTran to Latin America has so many complaints because they suck.  You get what you pay for. 

Considering that the victim was a black student and the suspects were Latino, it's likely the older, more affluent whites will leave Spring ISD and head towards either Katy ISD or somewhere like Waller ISD.

Since this is a northside district, it's better to compare it to other northside ones: Conroe ISD, Klein ISD, and to stretch things, Magnolia or Willis??

If someone follows you, drive to the police station and the perps will be scared away.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Tension-follows-rash-of-home-invasions-by-masked-2293056.php

 

There have been a couple of incidents of people getting followed from the Kroger at 20th and robbed in their driveway.  And there were a bunch of driveway robberies in Oak Forrest.  But, this sounds more like the perps are looking for a big stash of cash.  It sounds a lot like what the perps in the article above were doing a few years ago. 

After the Spring High School stabbing, it is possible that more affluent families will leave Spring ISD for good. I know the demographics have been changing for a while but this will do it even more.

Now North Forest has been shut down for good. It closed on July 1, 2013. Kashmere High School and Key Middle School will be getting many North Forest kids, but Forest Brook Middle and North Forest High remain open.